IT IS Brunei Darussalam’s aspirations to further develop its capabilities in the arena of Islamic finance and realise its vision of becoming a renowned hub for Islamic finance, said Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, the Deputy Minister of Finance, yesterday.

He was delivering the keynote address at the opening of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB)’s ‘Sukuk (Islamic bonds) Model Law’ workshop at The Empire Hotel & Country Club in Jerudong.

The workshop is an initiative of the IDB and the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), with the goal of providing a platform for an exchange of views that could assist in the enabling of a robust legal framework that supports the issuance, regulation and monitoring of Sukuk.

VENDORS were yesterday thrilled to receive His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and other members of the royal family at the ongoing Local Products and Halal Products Bazaar at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas.

Haji Junggal bin Jumat, a representative and head of MPK Kampong Putat, was delighted that the monarch took the time to mingle with the vendors and enquire about their products, adding that he felt great pride at being able to show His Majesty that he is able to make a living by selling raw bee honey and handicraft – despite being a senior citizen.

“It is very meaningful when His Majesty shows appreciation for us, the small entrepreneurs, and in what we do,” he said.

BRUNEI citizens can visit the Russian Far East without visas, the Russian Prime Minister said.

A list of 18 countries including Brunei Darussalam has been approved whose citizens can obtain electronic single entry business, tourist or humanitarian visas when entering the Russian Federation through checkpoints at the free port of Vladivostok, Dmitry Medvedev announced on Monday.

DEER is the prime target of hunters while wood is the favourite of encroachers of Brunei forests that are rich in flora and fauna.

However, their movements have been effectively restricted with the ever-alert forest officials thwarting every attempt to intrude into the wild with high-precision anti-poaching measures.

The country incurred losses amounting to $95,000 last year due to forest poaching. Wood stealing constituted the biggest loss totalling $44,000 and this includes the pricey agarwood worth $37,000 and mangrove products worth $13,000.

According to Forestry Officer at the Development and Forestry Industry Management Reni bin Haji Yahya, Forestry Department officers, Ranger Police and other government agencies conducted 174 forest patrols last year and 24 operations detected illicit activities in the Brunei forests.

Briefing agricultural and forestry entrepreneurs on Forestry Act Chapter 46 of the Laws of Brunei on…

BRUNEI Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP) has achieved an exciting new success in exploration as it made its first significant onshore discovery in 37 years with its Layang-Layang Well in the Lumut area.

The achievement was announced in a joint press statement yesterday by BSP and the Energy and Industry Department at the Prime Minister’s Office (EIDPMO).

The Layang-Layang oil and gas discovery is the first of its kind as it confirms a new geological concept called a Shale diapir trap which was interpreted from seismic data and Brunei field outcrop studies.

A Shale diapir is a large cavity injected with Shale under high subsurface pressure, and had never previously been considered as a valid trap mechanism for BSP until now.

According to the statement, what makes this discovery particularly remarkable is the application of new, advanced seismic processing technology to existing older data.

RIDING on the back of an Asian recovery and its own ambitious diversification strides, Brunei is poised to register an economic turnaround in the next few years if figures forecast by prominent global financial institutions are anything to go by.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and more recently the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have attributed the Sultanate’s rebound, though not massive compared to some of its Asian counterparts, to a slew of farsighted measures currently being implemented by the government.

At the core of the government’s diversification mission is opening up the economy to foreign direct investment (FDI) by slashing the corporate income tax rate to 18.5 per cent with tax exemptions for pioneer industries, allowing 100 per cent foreign ownership in domestic companies, competitively pricing land and utilities in industrial parks and establishing a special office in the Brunei Economic Development Board to fast-tra…

AFTER several years of declining gross domestic product (GDP), falling consumer prices and widening fiscal deficits, Brunei Darussalam is poised for a mild turnaround, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

Large construction projects and recovering oil and gas production and prices are expected to lift GDP and inflation into positive territory and narrow the fiscal gap.

Sustainable long-term growth demands substantial reforms to the business environment to attract foreign investors to new industries, the bank said in its Asia Development Outlook (ADO) 2017 for Brunei Darussalam published recently.

A projected modest increase in hydrocarbon exports for higher prices should restore GDP growth this year and next. Several large construction projects will provide additional impetus if they proceed as planned.

GDP is forecast to grow by one per cent in 2017, quickening to 2.5 per cent in 2018. Inflation is forecast to be 0.1 per…

SENGENICS, a leading genomics and proteomics-based research and diagnostics company in the region, yesterday launched a world-class, commercially driven facility in Brunei Darussalam.

Opened at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD)’s Integrated Science building, the state-of-the art Sengenics Immunome Production Facility is expected to give a fresh momentum to the economic diversification efforts of the country and intensify the development of cutting-edge knowledge industry through innovation and technology.

The new facility will offer protein cloning and expression services using the patented BCCP (biotin carboxyl carrier protein) folding marker technology from Sengenics.

According to Sengenics Chief Executive Officer Dr Arif Anwar, in the last six months alone, Sengenics has secured commercial projects from five out of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world.

THE Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Universiti Brunei Da-russalam (UBD) held its Third Annual Symposium on Islamic governance at the Senate Room, Chancellor Hall, UBD yesterday.

The event followed a series of symposia held over the past two years that focused specifically on the emerging discipline and practice of Islamic governance and its relationships with policy, government, and society.

With the theme ‘Integrating Organisational Functions within an Islamic System of Governance’, the one-day symposium included discussions on how organisations, consisting of individuals, can function as a cohesive collective to create an environment that is conducive for the worship of Allah the Almighty.

The symposium also highlighted four principal components of Islamic governance: the theological, the juristic, its values and the cultural context, where it is against these backgrounds that different possible perspective…